BBSBHIffil MmfiyHMlw Ml ml mm M\m i $M8i ■ i f any supposed deficiency of nutritious matter; and yet I cannot resist the belief, that good, ripe, mealy sour apples, not too "92 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. sour, are far more nutritious ; and that good sweet apples are even as nutritious as the beet or the carrot, if not as much so as the potatoe. There is a very great difference in the quality of apples. Some are much coarser grained than others. Some are more dry. Some have thicker and tougher skins. Some have their juices and pulp better developed in particular soils or in dry seasons, than in others. There are a few general rules which will probably assist us in the selection of this important article of food. 1. The larger and more perfect apples on a tree are usually the best. Not that apples naturally small are not sometimes as good as those naturally large ; for I am not here speaking of a selection from different trees, but from the same tree. 2. Apples from a given tree or stock are, as a general rule, more perfect in their juices, more wholesome, and probably more nutritious, in pro- portion as their color is deep or intena-. Thus, if the color is green, the more intense the color the better. If light red, the fruit is more perfect in proportion to the brightness of the red. If yellow, its excellence is in proportion to the depth or intensity of that yellow. Any one may satisfy himself of the truth of this remark, by a little observation. The remark may even be extended to different trees. Thus, of the fruit of two trees. THE APPLE. 193 noth bearing dark green apples, that will usually be the best whose color is most intense or perfect, and that the worst whose color is most faint or pale. The apple has a degree of life—a kind of vital force or power;—and this vital force is in proportion to the perfection of its qualities. 3. The more mealy the pulp of an apple, pro- vided it is not tasteless, the more digestible. I know it is thought otherwise by most writers. They tell us that both apples and pears are best when they are most melting or juicy. They may be more nutritious, without being any more diges- tible ; and hence, probably, the mistake. I am confident that the most juicy apples—sweet or sour—are far from being most easy or most rapid of digestion. 4. The perfection of an apple is somewhat in proportion to the fineness and the firmness of its pulp. A loose, spongy or stringy pulp is not only less digestible, but less wholesome and nutri- tious than one which is the contrary. 5. Apples with a thin skin, other things being equal, are richer and better than those which have thicker and tougher skins. 6. They should be eaten, as much as possible, in their most perfect or most ripe state. 7. To preserve the apple in the most perfect state, it should be kept in a pure and dry air. It 13 194 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. is not by any means uncommon, to put apples in a damp place ; or in large piles, where they seem to gather and retain moisture. They are always injured by this treatment, even though they should not go so far, at once, as to begin to decay. The apple is most conducive to health when eaten in its raw or natural state; not merely because in its natural state—the state in which the Author of nature has prepared it, though even this deserves our attention—but because in this way it requires and receives more perfect mastication. If the skin is very hard or firm, possessing a sharp- ness which the digestive powers cannot readily overcome, it may be removed. The paring should be thin, however, as the best of the apple is believed to be nearest the skin. Baking or roasting renders most apples some- what sweeter than they would otherwise be ; but it may justly be questioned whether the process at all improves them—to say nothing of its lessening the demand upon the teeth and salivary glands. To say they are unwholesome in this state, abso- lutely so, would indeed be wrong ; but to say that for those who are in perfect health, they are usually more wholesome in their natural state, than when cooked, is quite correct. It can hardlv be denied, that they are often more nutritious when cooked; but one of the advantages of fruits is, THE APPLE. 195 that they furnish to the stomach a supply of innu- tritious substance. We are often told by adults—seldom if ever by children—that raw apples do not agree with them. If this circumstance proves anything against their use, it proves too much. There is hardly an article of diet, however wholesome in its nature, which has not been found to disagree with some individual or other. Milk, rice, beans, corn, pota- toes, corn bread, and almost every sort of bread, and even cold water, cannot be borne by some individuals ; so they tell us. Will any one pre- tend that they ought net therefore to be used ? No doubt raw apples lie heavy on the stomachs of some .persons. For though the experiments of Dr. Beaumont and all other experiments of the kind, go to show that the ripe mellow apple, espe- cially the sweet apple, is exceedingly quick and easy of digestion, when used in a proper manner, there are numerous circumstances of civic life which may render it the contrary of all this. 1. Apples may lie heavy on a person's stomach if he eats too many at once, especially when he has long been unaccustomed to their use. Such a person should not begin with using a dozen or two at a time. I would begin with half or one third of an apple of moderate size ; or even less, if this should not sit well. The quantity, when 196 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. >ve have not taken too much at once in the outset, may be afterwards slowly increased. 2. They may not sit well, if they are only half masticated. Some persons never think of making it a principle to masticate an apple as thoroughly as possible. This is not to be wondered at, in a world where it seems to be the grand aim of every- body to masticate their food as little as possible. But though not to be wondered at, it is to be regretted ; for there is hardly anything which is rendered slow and difficult of digestion by being swallowed whole, in as great a degree as apples. They ought to be reduced to as fine a pulp as possible. 3. Apples will lie heavy—more readily, perhaps, than some other things which could be named— when eaten after we have already taken a full meal. Too much of the simplest and most diges- tible food is always an evil, but when to enough and more than enough of something else, you add a quantity of apples, and especially when only half masticated, it is no wonder they do not agree. 4. Apples sometimes disagree when eaten be- tween meals. If the stomach is ever so strong, it will need rest when it has got through with the work of digesting a meal. But if we go and eat apples about the time the digestion is completed, and thus, instead of permitting the stomach to rest, THE APPLE. 197 however fatigued it may be, set it to work again, we can scarcely expect it to do its work well. Nor can we reasonably wonder or complain, if it should refuse to work at all, and the new substance should be to it, for some time, as a dead weight or foreign substance. 5. The same lying heavy on the stomach will often happen in consequence of eating fruit at a wrong time of day, especially if a person is not very robust. Thus the feeble will sometimes bear apples, if they begin with a small quantity and masticate them well, in the morning, when they cannot be made to sit well at evening. Thev should be eaten by the feeble at their meals, and when their digestive powers appear to be strongest. With most, this is at breakfast; but with some, perhaps, at dinner. There are very few persons in the world on whose stomachs apples appear to lie heavy, who could not gradually bring themselves to use them with impunity, by observing the cautions which I have mentioned. To the individual of perfect appetite—though I do not yet know where such an individual can be found—the best way probably is to make a break- fast—now and then—of apples alone. He must, however, get rid of the fashionable idea that they are not hearty enough ; and that they will not give him 198 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. strength. No healthy man will suffer for want of strength to labor, simply because he ate nothing for breakfast but apples. They are fully as nutri- tious as turnips, onions, asparagus, carrots and beets; and sweet ones probably much more so; perhaps as much so as potatoes. He must, however, have full faith in them. He who only half believes his breakfast will sustain his strength, will be very likely to imagine a falling off at eleven, just as the dram-drinker does, for want of his dram ; but he who does not expect anything of the kind, will rarely experience it;— so powerful is the influence of mind over body. For those, however, who in consequence of their erroneous habits, early formed, cannot or think they cannot receive these doctrines, or who would feel that they were doing penance to confine them- selves to a breakfast of even the best sweet apples, I will give some further general directions. Where apples are made a part only of our meals, they should be conjoined with such things as most resemble them in their tendency. I know this is not the general belief. An entirely different view is frequently taken. The principle is almost universal, that contraries should be eaten to coun- teract unfavorable tendencies. Vegetables, for example, must be set off against meat, and meat against vegetables ; and fruits which are juicy and THE APPLE. 199 pulpy should be conjoined, it is thought, with dry bread or some substance not unlike it. Again, sauces and preserves must be taken, it is thought, with meat. The objection to this prevalent belief is founded on the great leading principle, that each meal should be as little complicated as possible. If sweet apples are to form a part of, a meal, instead of using dry flour bread with them, I should prefer sweet potatoes, pumpkins, beets, carrots, or even common potatoes. Contraries I would withhold till the next meal ; though I would be careful to use them then. It is no wide departure, however, from physio- logical truth to eat the apple in small quantity, either at breakfast or dinner, with any article we choose, which is wholesome. I have stated the abstract truth, and happy is he who can live up to it ; but let us not complain of him who cannot, or who thinks he cannot. Let him, also, who cannot use the stronger food, be allowed for a time to use that which is weaker ; provided, however, that he comes up at all times, to his own convictions of duty—his own standard of right and wrong—his own conscience. Much has been said by dietetic writers on the importance of boiling apples, pears and other fruits. They say it expels the wind. Now I 200 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. doubt whether the wind in an apple would ever give us any trouble, if the stomach was in a good and sound state. If boiling the stomach would give it tone, it might be well to boil that; but if it has not tonic power enough to digest a good raw apple at breakfast time, properly masticated, it is high time it were trained to do so; and eating boiled apples would probably weaken it rather than strengthen it. The truth is, that such stomachs as cannot digest simple things have already been humored too long; they want solid things. We must begin of course with small quantities at a time. He alone who can eat a raw apple, is fit to eat a boiled one. To him who can eat raw fruit, however, that which is boiled is pretty near the physiological truth ; and in this view I commend its use. I have already alluded to apple sauce made by boiling down the apples in sweet, unfermented cider. This, next to boiling, is one of the best modes of cooking the apple ; and seems to be so common among us, that it would be almost useless to declaim against it, were it not so. I must here insert a caution to all housewives, who make apple sauce, pear sauce, quince sauce, or any other sauce or article of food which con- tains an acid, or in which an acid of any kind can possibly be developed by any change to which it THE APPLE. 201 may be exposed by standing, not to put it in the common red earthen vessels. The reason is, that these vessels are glazed with an oxyde of lead which is readily dissolved by vegetable acids, forming a poisonous compound. If the acid hap- pens to be the acetic acid—the same with that of vinegar—the substance formed is the acetate of lead, or sugar of lead—as poisonous almost as ratsbane. If it is some other acid that is formed, still the result is a poison. Many house-keepers have observed that the glazing comes off; but, in general, without knowing the reason, or dreaming of any danger. The lighter colored stone ware is usually glazed with melted salt, which renders its use for culinary purposes perfectly safe. On this sub- ject, the curious reader may find some important facts in the " Library of Health," for July, 1837. The red earthen vessels of which I have spoken are extensively used, and people are as extensively poisoned. Few, indeed, die outright; nor are the causes of disease so obvious, in every instance, that physicians at once detect them. Besides, where these causes alone produce disease once, they probably fall in with and aggravate other diseases produced by other causes, a hundred or five hundred times. There can be no doubt that hundreds of lives are lost every year among us by errors in cooking, 202 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. and in preparing food, drink, medicine, he But for one who dies, hundreds, if not thousands, are more or less injured ; some of them for their whole lives. Next, in point of usefulness and safety to the plain boiling of apples, is the process of stewing. They are pared, cut into quarters, and after being put into a vessel with a little water, slowly soft- ened for the table. This is much better than boiling them in cider, but is less economical, because it must be repeated oftener ; since apples prepared in the former mode, much sooner spoil. Next to stewing come the processes of baking and roasting. Indeed, I regard these three or four processes of cookery as nearly on a par with each other. Boiling is the most natural; stewing is next, if they are not made too soft by it; next, baking ; and lastly, roasting. There is a very general fondness, in this coun- try, for baked apples with milk, especially sweet ones. Of all the compounds used as food, this is one of the most natural ; and it seems to me, to be one of the slightest and least objectionable departures from truth which can be named in modern cookery. Apple dumplings are not very objectionable, were it not for the crust;—I mean when they are simple. If spices are added, they become inju- rious. The great objection is the crust. This is THE APPLE. 203 usually a flour paste ; nor is the state of things much better when the paste is made partly of potatoes. Unbolted wheat meal is preferable to either. But why should we have the apple dump- ling at all ? Few would prepare it, or eat it after it was prepared, were it not for the crust, and above all, for the butter, the sauce, or the sugar added to it; but all these are objectionable. Apple puddings are so nearly of the nature of the last mentioned, that it is sufficient barely to mention them. There is, however, the bird's nest pudding, which is more than injurious, to say nothing of the waste of time in its preparation. To fried apples, as to all other fried food, I must strongly object, and for the same reason :—they are thereby rendered exceedingly difficult of digestion. Apples preserved in sugar or any other similar substance, are still further removed, if possible, from a state of nature than in any of the prepara- tions yet mentioned, if we except the fried state. Drying apples, as it involves so much unnecessary labor, is by no means to be encouraged. There is no difficulty in preserving raw apples till June or July, when new fruits begin to appear, if we take the necessary pains ; and though not absolutely perfect in the raw state, after they have been so long kept, they are nevertheless far better than if preserved in any other manner. 204 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. Perhaps, after all, the use of apples chopped fine and mixed with meat, as in mince pies, is as objec- tionable as any. These mince pies, when made in the best manner, are bad enough ; but when made up not only with lean meat, but with the addition of suet, spices, raw and dried fruits, wine, brandy, he, and put into the usual forms of pastry, they become—as Dr. Paris says of pastry alone— an abomination. The best and most rational method of making mince pie of which I have ever heard, was recently communicated to me by a lady of this city. Its principal excellency consists in the fact, that while it retains all the sensible properties of ordinary mince pie, it is comparatively simple, and contains not a particle of meat or suet, or a drop of wine or spirits ; and the crust is of unbolted wheat meal, with no more butter than is just necessary to pre- vent its adhering to the platter. It is quite a discovery ; and is a most happy substitute for the old fashioned mince pie. On this account I have inserted in another place a recipe for preparing it. Still, it is an article which I do not mean to recommend to my readers. There are many other better modes of using apples than to use them in any such compound, however great may be its comparative innocency. THE APPLE. 205 As to pancakes, fritters, cheese, cheese cakes, biscuits, trifles, jelly, marmalade and creams, pre- pared with apples, they are scarcely worth naming. Apple bread is a French preparation, which appears to be comparatively unobjectionable, and which I would not discourage, as an occasional variety for those who have not yet attained to that simplicity of taste which is desirable. The mode of preparing it will be found in the chapter of recipes ; but I think the French mode is suscepti- ble of improvement, especially by substituting unbolted wheat meal for flour. Let me once more remind the reader that all apples, however used, should be perfect. Some persons begin to use them before they are more than half ripe. They stew them, make them into sauces, pies, &c.; but not without the addition of sugar, molasses, spices and other ingredients. I am wholly opposed to the use of green fruits of every sort. The juices of all green fruits are very different from those of ripe ones. Their acids are less wholesome than after they are changed by the action of the sun in ripening ; nor does the addi- tion of saccharine substances in preparing them, at all change their real nature. They are still there ; they are only concealed. The oxalic acid is still oxalic acid, cook green fruits as you will. No culinary process—I repeat it—can be substituted 206 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. for, or produce the effects of solar action. The Creator, in many instances, by means of the sun, performs the most perfect culinary processes ; and nature is often the best kitchen and cook. Not only should all fruits be perfectly ripe, but they should be perfect in their structure and char- acter. Many people, in order to save them, use the more perfect parts of those which are partially decayed or infested with worms, for pies or sauce ; and seem to think that by the addition of season- ings they remove, in some good degree, their natu- ral evil tendency. Formerly, the worthless part of our apples went to form cider; but now, since cider is becoming unfashionable, those people who wish to save every particle of their fruit, whether wholesome or not, contrive to use it all up in the family. I hardly need to repeat, that no imperfect fruit is fit for the human or even the brute stomach, at least so long as we live in a land of such abun- dance, and can, if we will, just as well have that which is perfect. CHAPTER XXIV. THE PEAR. Quality of pears. Bad ones. Baking and roasting pears Cautions in preserving them. Forcing maturity. Mealy pears. Cultivation of the pear. Stewing. Drying. Peai jam. In general, what has been said of apples, will apply to pears. Next to apples, they are one of the best table fruits of our country. They are best uncooked. Those are usually preferable which have the thinnest skins; and those are most whole- some, though they may not be to all at first the most agreeable, which are most mealy. Their excellence, moreover, seems to be, in some good degree at least, in proportion to their sweetness. There are in fashion among us, certain larger, coarse grained winter pears, which I wish were wholly set aside as injurious. For to say nothing of the great waste of soil in occupying it with the trees that bear them, it seems to me worse than a waste—a perversion—of the powers and energies of the human stomach, to fill it with such miserable 208 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. trash. I know these pears are seldom eaten, how long so ever they may be preserved, in an un- cooked state. But, as a general rule which is at least applicable to the fruits, I do not believe sub- stances wholly unfit for the human stomach when uncooked, can be made fit for its use by cookery. The legitimate province of cookery, rationally pur- sued, is° as I shall insist more strongly hereafter, to improve substances already wholesome, or to in- crease the quantity of their nutriment. Thus wheat and corn, for example, even uncooked, are quite nutritious ; but cookery, besides securing a better mastication, appears to me to improve them ; and this is undoubtedly the fact in regard to many of the esculent roots, especially the potatoe. The time may possibly come, when a cheap method will be discovered of preserving, not only apples and pears, but many other fruits, free from decay, for almost any period desirable. But such a time has not yet arrived; and though apples may be preserved, with pains enough, for a long time without much injury, it is seldom so with pears. And, on the whole, I would not attempt it. Let us make the most of them in their season ; and let them be preserved as long as they can well be without special effort; but let us do no more. At least let us not think of preserving those coarse, hard, tough, stringy, unpalatable things which are THE PEAR. 209 sometimes deemed so valuable, simply that we may waste our precious hours during the winter, in converting them, by the cooking process, and the addition of sugar, molasses, and other things, into a substance, which, after all, is neither so whole- some, nor to an un perverted appetite so palatable, as a good raw apple. We are responsible to God and posterity for the use of our minutes as well as our months ; for our cents as well as our dollars : and have no more right to be selfish or wasteful of minutes and cents than of months and dollars. If we must or rather will preserve any winter pears whatever, let them be of the finer grained sort; not of those which look within more like the flesh of a sturgeon, than like anything delicate or wholesome. Some sorts of pears which are merely hard and ill tasted, provided they are not coarse grained and stringy, may be rendered very agreeable and com- paratively wholesome, simply by baking or roasting them, without consuming more time than we should dare to account for. The cautions which were given against putting apple sauce into the common red earthen vessels of this country, are equally applicable to cooked pears and pear sauce. Rules are sometimes given by writers on die- tetics for rendering apples, pears and other fruits 14 210 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. prematurely mellow ; but all such rules are, as 1 have already said, worse than useless. Fruits should always become perfectly ripe in their own natural way. And even those which ripen soonest on the trees—a sort of scattering first crop—are often imperfect in some way or other. I have spoken of both the apple and pear as being preferable when the pulp is somewhat dry and fine, and therefore need not repeat my remarks. It is much to be wished that more pains were taken in New England to cultivate the pear, and to select, in cultivating it, the best varieties. If equal pains were taken, I believe the pear might become nearly as important an article of diet as the apple. Not less than two hundred varieties, fit for the table, are already known to our horticul- turists ; and one British society has six hundred. Of these some are slightly acid, others slightly sweet; and some exceedingly rich and sugary. A constant succession of this fruit, as well as of the apple, might be had from July to winter. There are several methods of stewing pears, drying them, he, but they are not worth know- ing. Pear jam is of still less consequence. The only application of fire to this fruit, which is at all tolerable, is in the process of baking, boiling, he CHAPTER XXV. THE PEACH, APRICOT AND NECTARINE. Stone fruits in gene al. Nature of the peach. Cooking it Drying. The apricot and nectarine. There is a very great variety of opinion abroad in regard to the peach ; some affirming that it is one of the most digestible and wholesome fruits in the world ; others, that it is cold, indigestible and unwholesome. None of the stone fruits are probably quite as wholesome, under any circumstances whatever, a? the apple and the pear, but are sufficiently so, perhaps, to justify their use as an occasional meal for those who believe in the importance of variety at different meals. They who think we should confine ourselves, through life, chiefly to one article of food, or even to a very few, should not select the peach. Used day after day, it appears to me it would soon injure the tone of the stomach. The stringy nature of this fruit requires strong or at least active powers of digestion ; but to persons possessing such powers, an occasional 212 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. meal of the peach is comparatively wholesome. I am not aware, however, that it is ever improved by cookery, even by the simple process of baking. And as to drying, no one ought, on the principles mentioned in speaking of the pear, to think of using dried peaches. The Apricot and Nectarine.—The apricot =n much resembles the neach, that the same gen- eral train of remark will be alike applicable to both. The nectarine, according to Dr. Paris, " is liable to disagree with some stomachs ;" but this " disagreement" is no test positive of the excel- lence of a thing, in a world containing its hundreds of millions of morbid or diseased stomachs. The peach, the apricot and the nectarine, may be used, in the morning, as a simple natural break- fast for the healthy, after the stomach has had a good night's rest; but I do not say how long the practice might be persisted in with impunity. Ap- ples, or pears, or bread, would indeed be better, would the person be equally well satisfied with them ; but if not—if there is a hankering after variety, and a feeling that the peach, he, are the gifts of God, and that to abstain from them and eat something else, however excellent, is a sort of self- denial—not to say penance—then let them be moderately used. CHAPTER XXVI. THE STRAWBERRY. Prejudice against fruits—how unreasonable. Fruits a pre- ventive of disease. Green fruits injurious. Market fruits very imperfect. Cultivating the strawberry. General laws of summer fruits. Strawberries for breakfast. Eaten alone. Eaten with wine, sugar, milk, &c. Strawberries and bread. Used for luncheon. Preventive of gravel and other diseases. A prejudice against the summer fruits, which prevails to some extent in this community, is not confined wholly to the more ignorant. As lately as the first appearance of the cholera among us, not a few distinguished physicians retained more or less of this unnatural and ill founded prejudice : and did not hesitate to proscribe the use of all summer fruits as dangerous, and sometimes as the exciting cause of the cholera. Facts, however, did not long bear them out in these views. Multi- tudes who lived exclusively on vegetables and fruits—especially in New York—wholly escaped the disease, while many of their friends who ab- stained from fruits and vegetables, and used flesh and fish, though living in the same house, fell victims. 214 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. These facts served to confirm a doctrine wnich had been advanced long before, and which was repeated at this time, but which even wise men were slow to admit—that instead of promoting disease, the summer fruits, properly used, are most happily calculated to prevent it.* During the hot season, exposure to great heat and a profuse perspiration, have a debilitating effect on the skin, in which the whole lining mem- brane of the intestinal canal, by a law of the animal economy, is sure to sympathize. The con- sequence is, that the functions which are usually performed, both in this canal and the parts imme- diately adjoining it, are much disturbed, and some- times the organs become feverish or inflamed. These effects, if the causes I have mentioned con- tinue to operate uninterrupted, may result either in bowel complaint or fever. Probably no small share of our cholera morbuses, diarrhceas, and dysenteries, have their origin in this source. Now it happens that just as the summer heats begin to be severe, and the lining membrane of the stomach and bowels begins to be irritable and * The author has maintained this same doctrine in an anonymous pamphlet, entitled, " Rational View of the Spas- modic Cholera," published by Clapp & Hull, of this city, in July, 1832, on the first appearance of the cholera in this country. THE STRAWBERRY. 215 feverish, the summer fruits begin to come on. These, if ripe, usually contain a moderate propor- tion of some gentle, cooling acid, with sugar, muci- lage and water. There is, indeed, a difference in them, but they are all, when eaten in proper cir cumstances, exceedingly cooling to the intestinal canal. So far are they from inviting disease, that they actually have a powerful tendency to repel it. But there is no valuable earthly blessing which may not be abused. Eaten green, or when we have already eaten enough of something else, or when we are over heated or over fatigued, or when the stomach needs repose, or when they are begin- ning to decay, all summer fruits may prove inju- rious, and defeat the very object for which the Author of nature intended them. And yet these are the circumstances under which, after all, most of them are received. One might think, at first view, that when they are abundant, and cheap, and excellent, there can be little temptation to use what is inferior in quality. And yet such is the eagerness of chil- dren for these things, that, unless controlled, they are very unwilling to wait for them to ripen, but are ready to swallow them as soon as they begin to change their color, and sometimes a great deal sooner. Nor .are children alone in this. Not a few older persons, who ought to know and do 216 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. better, are as little apt to govern themselves in this matter as children. The evil to which I now refer is not so great, however, in the country as in the city. There is scarcely a fruit in our market which is hot brought in long before it is ripe. The folly of purchasing such fruit, is enhanced by the consideration, that it is not only worse in quality than when ripe, but much dearer. And yet, such is our natural eager- ness for fruits, how few resist the temptation ! Few summer fruits are more easily cultivated than the strawberry. I know not how many varieties of it there are, but they are numerous ; and some of them make their appearance very early. They may, however, be so managed as to be had in one or another of their varieties, for a period of several months. The strawberry is not only one of the earliest, but one of the most excel- lent fruits—being not only very wholesome, but highly delicious. The pulp is light, though but little watery ; and it does not very readily undergo the acetous fermentation in the stomach. It is truly surprising that so few persons, in our country, ever think of cultivating the strawberry. A few people around cities and towns raise it expressly for the market; and a few more, espe- cially of the wealthy, cultivate small beds or short rows of it—rather, however, as an occasional treat THE STRAWBERRY 217 to themselves or their friends, than as a regular, and important, and indispensable article of daily food. The far greater part choose to buy such trash as they can get in the market, rathe than be at the trouble to raise for themselves. In the country, however, where the appetite is somewhat less perverted than in the city, a more extensive use is made of this fruit for a short time, but it is seldom cultivated. The wild species is chiefly relied on. I repeat it, however, most persons, in city or in country, fail to secure to themselves all the benefits they might from the use of fruits, were they to understand the true philosophy of their nature and use, and practice according to their knowledge. To know how and when to use this single fruit— the strawberry—so as to derive from its use the pleasure, the nourishment, and the health for which nature intended it, is worth more than the knowl- edge of whole chapters in the art of tickling the palate with condiments and ingenious mixtures, at the certain sacrifice of health and longevity. But it happens that the same general rules which apply to the strawberry, are applicable, with kw modifi- cations, to other fruits. This will be a sufficient apology for introducing, under the present head, a few general principles which should govern us in the use of all the summer fruits. 218 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. The black mulberry, says the Encyclopaedia Americana, is " in perfection only for a few mo- ments, and that at the time when it can be detached from the tree by a slight shaking of the branches." Now the black mulberry is not wholly singular in this respect. All the fruits, but more particularly the berries, are more or less subject to the same law. Indeed, it is well known of the strawberry, that it exhales the most delightful per- fume, and that its flavor is the most exquisite, when, on being perfectly ripe, it is first plucked from the stem. There can be little doubt, that the strength of the odor and the intensity of the flavor of this and other fruits, is always in proportion to their perfection. I believe that as the mulberry is in perfection only a " few moments," so the straw- berry and the raspberry are almost equally short lived. The blackberry may retain its perfection a little longer; the cherry and plum longer still; and the currant and gooseberry, perhaps, several days—though of the gooseberry I am more doubtful. Now the proper inference to be made from all this is, that unless we raise these fruits for our- selves, we are not likely to have them in per- fection. They will come to our tables too soon or too late; unripe, or beginning to decay. And though they may not make us immediately sick, because we chance to eat them for once or twice THE STRAWBERRY. 219 when they are not absolutely perfect, yet who will doubt that health and happiness, as well as the immediate gratification of the senses, are most favored by using them in their most perfect state ? And following out this idea, who, if he could help it, would ever buy them in a public market ? I grant, most readily, that thousands among us have their senses of taste and smell, even in very early life, so blunted by the errors of modern cookery, that they cannot distinguish the state of absolute perfection of a fruit from its unripe or half putrid state. There are thousands, even of children, to whom a strawberry is a strawberry, though it be not quite ripe, or though it has begun to putrefy. But their ignorance does not prevent their suffering, sooner or later—in their own per- sons or those of their posterity, or both—the pun- ishment of their transgressions, however ignorant they were in their commission. It were greatly to be wished that every person would raise his own fruits—especially of the per- ishable kinds of which I am now speaking. At least he ought to see that they are raised in his own neighborhood. Like the other fruits I have mentioned, straw- berries are most wholesome as the morning meal. How pleasant to pluck them soon after sunrise, in all their native richness and freshness! The labor 9 220 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. of gathering them, added to the rest of the stomach during the night, is the best possible preparative for their reception. In these circumstances, what more elegant breakfast can possibly be prepared— what more likely to raise the heart in thanksgiving to the bounteous Author of all good—than a basket or dish of strawberries, just from their native vines and stems, with all the richness of fragrance and deliciousness of taste, which in these circum- stances cluster around them ? And who is there, that with his mixed, heating, heated, greasy break- fast, might not well envy, were envy ever admissi- ble, his more fortunate neighbor, that can command for himself and his rising family, such simple, nutri- tious, cooling, wholesome and truly philosophic viands ? But shall we then eat them alone ? you will perhaps ask. And I ask, in reply, Why not ? What objection is there—what objection can there be to making an occasional morning meal wholly of strawberries ? Such breakfasts have been made —and enjoyed, too—a thousand times. If it is said that a laboring person will feel faint before dinner-time after breakfasting on a meal of nothing but strawberries, I answer that this proves nothing against relying on them. It only proves that when we do so, we feel at first, a want of the stimulus which we have been long accustomed to THE STRAWBERRY. 221 use at our breakfast—whether a natural or an unnatural one, the mere sensation of faintness does not determine. The faintness will be felt when we have omitted our bitters, our tea, our coffee, our hot drink of any sort, our animal food, or our condiments; and sometimes when we have omitted solid food and used only that which is liquid. It is felt least, however, in proportion as our meals are simple and our appetites unperverted. Even when they are not so, we have only to repeat the breakfast, of strawberries a few times, and the faintness wholly disappears ; and if followed by a solid dinner, I mean one of bread or some more nutritious and solid substance, we shall be as well nourished, feel as much strength, and enjoy as much gustatory pleasure, as in almost any other way. If it is said that fruits are not wholesome in the morning, and this is a reason why we should not make a whole breakfast of them, I reply, by deny- ing the truth of the statement, antiquated as it may be. There is no time in the whole twenty- four hours, according to the general testimony of science and of dietetic writers, when fruits may be more healthfully as well as pleasantly used than in the morning ; and the prejudice against their use must have arisen—so it seems to me—among the intemperate or the gluttonous, whose tastes are 222 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. so perverted that they never relish anything simple, especially on first rising. t; But why not use wine, or milk, or cream, or sugar, with them ? What possible objection can there be to their use? Whoever felt the worse for using strawberries in milk, or with bread ? " If it is a substantiated physiological truth—and I suppose it is—that one article of food at a meal, provided it is a wholesome article, (for a whole meal of butter and cheese, or meat, would not be so good as if its place was partly supplied by bread or some wholesome vegetable,) is better than more, then however quiet our stomachs may be, or how- ever undisturbed our feelings, after a mixed meal, it cannot be so conducive to health as a simple one. We are very often injured, or at least not benefited so much as we might be—which amounts to nearly the same thing—by an article which sits upon our stomachs perfectly well. When there is obvious disturbance after a meal, or at least pain, we know there is injury ; when all' is quiet, there may or may not be. It is impossible, by our mere sensations, always to tell. Hence the principle that everything should be eaten by itself, as preferable to being mixed with anything else, even an article equally excellent. But because the strawberry, like everything else, is Dest eaten by itself, it does not follow that it is very THE STRAWBERRY. 223 bad eaten otherwise. To be sure, the question may arise whether we have a moral right to use that which is inferior when we can just as well have that which is better; nor can there be but one answer to it. Strawberries and milk, then, or strawberries and cream, or strawberries and raspberries, or lastly, strawberries and roasted apples—if old apples can be found at this season which are tolerably perfect —are among the best, that is, least injurious mix- tures. Of all these, however, strawberries and milk or fresh cream, are the best. They are also tolerable with brown bread ; or with bread made of unbolted wheat meal; or even with bread made of the ordinary wheat flour, if not too new. Sugar with strawberries—or any substance more concentrated than milk or cream, I deem highly objectionable. There is as much sugar in the straw- berry itself, if in a perfect state when eaten—and if not, I repeat it, we ought to let it entirely alone— as is well adapted to the most healthy condition of our system. Honey, sugar, molasses, &.c. are too concentrated and too cloying in their nature to be the most conducive to health. Wine is still worse ; and yet there are numbers who think the strawberry does not agree with them unless mixed with wine of some sort; and many prefer for this purpose the astringent or port wine. 224 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. But such persons, if residing in the country, must certainly have diseased stomachs. If they reside in the city, and buy their fruits in the common mar- ket, there is a natural reason why they should injure them when.wine is not added ; and if it were abso- lutely necessary to load the stomach with such unripe and decaying stuff, I would say, take wine with it, for once—and thus relieve the stomach of its indigestible burden. But I would also say, do not load it again in the same manner. It is disgustipg to see healthy, sensible people— sensible I mean in all other respects—putting wine, a poisonous substance, into a rich bowl of perfect strawberries. It seems to me like a kind of pro- fanation. It is, to say the least, a foolish practice ; but it is more, it is unreasonable. Nay, more still, it ,'s unhealthy. The use of milk and cream does not seem quite so bad ; but pray, why can we not " let well enough alone ? " Why reduce everythino-, or almost everything we eat, to a monotonous state, so as to make it smell or taste of some sort of grease or condiment? Why not enjoy the full happiness of all that variety which the Author of nature intended ? Why not eat milk by itself, and take the benefit and the pleasure of it, unaltered by the flavor or smell of fruits of any sort ? And why not take each fruit by itself, and enjoy the full benefit of its peculiar flavor and fragrance, without THE STRAWBERRY. 225 making it smell and taste of milk ? Is this continua mixing of things a natural, or just, or sensible idea : I should hardly be disposed to object to an occa- sional dinner of strawberries, provided the indi- vidual had eaten a more solid breakfast, as bread, or corn, or potatoes ; though I still think the break- fast hour is the most appropriate time for fruits. But I would not, ordinarily, use two meals, in suc- cession, of strawberries. Were luncheons at all allowable—for physiologi- cally they are not, except for children—I would say, that next to using fruits at breakfast, the best time for them is at a luncheon, about mid- way between breakfast and dinner. For laborers who perspire much, and at ten or eleven o'clock become thirsty, and who, imagining themselves hungry as well as thirsty, demand food, nothing can be better than a small quantity of ripe, perfect fruit of some sort; and in its season, I know of none better for this purpose than the strawberry. I ought, perhaps, just to say, that it has been set down by many dietetic writers as a preven- tive of the gravel; and it is said, that persons inclined to this disease should eat it with great freedom. As a medicine, however, it is affirmed that the wild strawberry is preferable to the culti- vated. I believe that either is salutary. And if it should turn out that the strawberry has no 15 226 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. specific tendency to the bladder, I should not be greatly surprised. If the fact, that it prevents the gravel should be owing to its general cooling, healthful tendency, it would be just as important that we should use it, as if it had a more specific tendency. Whatever promotes the general health, tends to prevent the development of those particu- lar diseases to which individuals are predisposed. In other words, the best preventive of disease, in every form, is good health. He who so lives, from infancy to maturity, as to secure the most perfect health of all his organs and their functions—if such a person can be found—he it is who need not fear disease. Fevers, pleurisies, bowel complaints, gravel, colds, rheumatisms, consumptions, even, have no terrors for those who act up to the dignity of their own natures, physical and moral. Lei them be as much predisposed to these diseases as they may, they cannot touch them. No person should, in hot weather, omit so important an article of diet as the strawberry ; nor must we forget to use it in a rational manner. Its use should be directed by the laws of God, in the human frame, rather than imposed by an arbitrary and tyrannical custom or fashion. I hardly need object, after what has been already said, to preserves, jams, he, or to strawberry puddings, pies or dumplings CHAPTER XXVII. THE RASPBERRY. Medicinal character of the raspberry. Its varieties. Every family should cultivate it, as they should the strawberry. Difficulties. How overcome. Female labor. The raspberry, in its nature, is a good deal like the strawberry, being cooling, gently laxative, and, in the language of medical books, anti-septic—by which is meant that it corrects, in the stomach and bowels, especially during the hot weather, any putrid tendency. It is also spoken of by foreign writers as possessing the same general medicinal properties. It is as nutritious as the strawberry, and I am sometimes inclined to think more so; and it does not more readily become acid in the stomach. The raspberry grows wild, in the greatest abun- dance, in many parts of our country ; and even in this condition is highly valuable as an article of food. But it is, like the strawberry, easily culti- vated ; and what renders it as worthy of our atten- tion as the strawberry, if not more so, is the fact 228 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. that it flourishes so well in our northern climate, and in wild, rocky places and light soils ; whereas the strawberry requires a soil somewhat excellent. It must, however, be admitted, that a good soil improves the raspberry as much as it does the strawberry. The raspberry, like the strawberry, is in a state of absolute perfection only a very short time. Still, by cultivating the different varieties—white, purple, red, flesh-colored, yellow, he—by plant- ing them at different times, and by watching them from day to day as we would our strawberry beds, and collecting in the morning all such, and such only, as are in their perfect state, we may—if we raise them ourselves—enjoy them for quite a long season. The small seeds of both the strawberry and raspberry have been supposed to render them hurtful, but I think their influence is favorable rather than otherwise. Still, I cannot go so far as to believe, with Willich, that the seeds of the apple and the stones of the cherry are to be eaten for the same reason; that is, for the sake of promo- ting the action of the intestines. I do not, however, think it necessary or desira- ble, that we should raise them to an extent which would give a large family a full meal more than two or three times a week, even in the season when they are in the highest perfection : for the THE RASPBERRY. 229 season of the strawberry and one or two other fruits, would trench upon that of the raspberry, and we certainly cannot consume everything. A very small patch of ground is sufficient to give a family several morning meals of each—the straw- berry and the raspberry—and this, too, with little, if any, interference with other employments. I have made the last statement, because many of my city and village readers, as soon as they come to my remarks on the importance of having each family raise its own stock of the short-lived summer fruits, will begin to wonder how it can be accomplished. Some suppose it will fequire the employment of a gardener, native or foreign, and this they think is beyond their means ; and so the project will be given up. Some are merchants, manufacturers, or mechanics : and say they have no time. Some will make one apology, and some another; and the consequence will be, as I sup- pose, that things will remain, after all, about as they were before. But whether they know it or not, all will be more or less influenced, in their apologies and final neglect of the subject, by indo- lence and the want of a desire for improvement. That there are indeed some slight difficulties to encounter, I am not disposed to deny. The greatest is a want of the necessary soil. And yet of the whole number of those who are withoul 230 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. this indispensable preliminary, three fourths, at least, have it in their power to procure it, by pur- chase or by hire, did they understand, in any good degree, its importance. Most people might, in a little while, make such changes in their external circumstances, as would give them land enough on which to raise their summer fruits. There cer- tainly is land enough in the world—nay, even around our cities—to give each family a good-sized garden spot. One trifling difficulty is the want of a knowledge of the best method of raising these fmits. It happens, how7ever, that there is almost always somebody to be found, especially around our towns and villages, who can give the information required, so far at least as to enable us to make a beginning. But let only a beginning once be made, and expe- rience will soon give all further needful instruction. Admitting, however, no knowledge on the subject could be had from the lips of any individual around us, there is another and perhaps better wray remain- ing. This is to get some popular work on garden- ing, and begin with that for a teacher. In short, I do not believe that a person can be found, who, being fully convinced of the importance of raising his own strawberries and raspberries, ever failed to go on with it. A person quite awake to the sub THE RASPBERRY. 231 ject, will always find some means of acquiring all the needful information. i Another difficulty still, will be the want of time. But this is no sort of difficulty at all, when we come to grapple with it. There are few if any families to be found, who cannot command the necessary time for raising a few beds of strawber- ries, and a small patch of raspberries. Tell me not of the pressure of your employments, your poverty, the necessity of your families, he It is to relieve your pressure and necessity, and dimin- ish your poverty, at least in part, that I am writing. There are many shreds of our valuable time, which, for want of some employment of this kind and a disposition to use them, are lost to ourselves and the world. Indeed, there is seldom a family whose male members have not, every year, an abundance of time which they might devote to the accomplishment of all the purposes I have men- tioned. Suppose, however, it were not so. Suppose it were utterly impracticable for any male member of a family to attend to the department of horti- culture of which I have been speaking. Are there not females in the family ? Do they not need, for the sake of their health, this very exer- cise ? Compare them, degenerated as they are, physically, with the females of the old world, and 232 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. say whether they do not need more exercise in the open air—the mother of a family, especially. Is it still said, How can the mother of a family find time for this ? 1 shall show how, in the latter part of this work. I shall show how a very large proportion of the time now wasted, and worse than wasted in the repetition, at almost every meal, of half a dozen or a dozen, hot or at least newly prepared dishes, when nothing which can properly be called cooking needs to be repeated, in any ordinary circumstances of health, more than once a day, or even as often as that. It may not be improper, however, just to observe, that the saving of time to the female head of a family and to her daughters, during a single season, by breakfasting a part of the time on fruit uncooked, would be amply sufficient for the purpose of cultivating and gathering it. In other words, it will not take up more time to cultivate and gather fruit for four or five breakfasts (one kind at a time) in a week, even if bread or bread and milk were taken at the same time, than it now takes to prepare the same number of breakfasts in the usual manner. Which is the most pleasant, depends, I suppose, upon circumstances, and especially upon early associa- tions ; but the answer to the question, Which is most healthy, has, as I conceive, been long ago settled. THE RASPBERRY. 233 The notion that out-of-door labor degrades a female, must, as I conceive, be given up. Females can never become what they ought to be, till they are employed more in the open air. Walking— and above all, that kind of movement abroad which goes by the name of "making calls"— can never answer the purpose. It is indeed better than no exercise at all, but it does not come up to the real wants of female nature. It exercises, too much, some parts of the frame, and leaves, almost without exercise, some of the others. Besides, the mind and feelings are not enough refreshed in mere walking. There is something done to the mind and body both, in cultivating and pruning the grape vine, and in weeding, and watering, and attending the strawberry, raspberry, he, which, so far as I know, cannot be fully accounted for on any known principles of philosophy or physiology, but which is as important to the female as to the male ; perhaps more so. The pure air, the fra- grance of leaves and blossoms, the natural color for the eye to rest upon, and many more things which I have not room to mention, come in undoubtedly for a share in the result; but there are probably other influences which as yet elude our observation. After devoting several pages to the consideration of the raspberry, not excluding even the method 234 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. of cultivating it, I shall not be likely to satisfy the expectations of those who are unhappy unless they are perpetually employed in something in the shape of cookery, if I do not just allude to the creams, jams, jellies, marmalades, pies, ices, waters, vinegars, sherbets, sponges, drops, he, which are sometimes prepared from this rich and delicate substance. But I shall only name them. Those who are determined to spend precious time in making these useless preparations, must consult other works for information respecting them. Like most other books of little comparative worth, they are sufficiently numerous; and sometimes suffi- ciently expensive. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE BLACKBERRY. The best variety of this fruit. Raising it ourselves. The Dewberry. Prejudice against the high blackberry. Anec- dote to show how unfounded it is. Abuses of the black- berry. The blackberry, next to the strawberry and the raspberry, is one of the best table fruits in our country ; and one which merits much more atten- tion from horticulturists than it has generally re- ceived. There are many varieties of this, fruit, both high and Iowa I think the low or running kind the best, on the whole, though by no means the richest or the sweetest. Both kinds, however, are excellent; and they are not near so perishable as many other berries. Still they can be kept but a very short time after they are plucked perfectly ripe from the vines, especially the low or running sort; and therefore it is that I would not advise my readers to buy them from the market. They may possibly be tolerable, bought there, but never excellent. The better way is to raise them, if you 236 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. have a garden or field of your own; and if not, buy them of a neighbor, with the privilege of pick- ing them for yourselves. You can far better afford to give nine-pence a quart for them, if you pick them yourselves, than if you buy them in the pub- lic market. The rules and remarks in connection with the strawberry and the raspberry, will so generally apply to the blackberry, that I need not repeat them. The blackberry forms a most delicious and nutritive breakfast now and then, for those who possess a pure taste ; and if it is a little more astrin- gent than the strawberry, it is nearly as wholesome. The dewberry, though much smaller, appears to be very nearly related to the low or running black- berry in its properties, especially in its astringency ; but I think it less wholesome. Much, however, depends on the soil in which it grows. On some soils, and especially in particular seasons, I have observed it to be much sweeter than on others. There is a very strong prejudice, in many parts of our country, against the high blackberry. It is said to produce the dysentery; and to be always dangerous, but especially so, when that malady is abroad. I remember the time when I would almost as soon have swallowed arsenic as this fruit—so strongly had the impression been made on my mind that it was injurious. The notion of its hurtful or THE BLACKBERRY. 237 dangerous tendency is probably 'part and parcel' of the general prejudice which prevails in reference to all fruits which come about the time, or rather a little before, the arrival of the summer and autum- nal diseases. I remember to have become skeptical on this subject at a very early period of my life. It was not, however, till I became a medical student, that I completely broke the spell in which my mind had been bound. Residing in a neighborhood where the dysentery was raging, and being often requested to render gratuitous assistance, especially by watch- ing with the sick, I was perpetually reminded of the necessity of taking every proper precaution to pre- serve health. In this state of things, the question arose whether or not I ought to eat fruits, which just at that time were abundant. Contrary to the wishes of my friends, and in spite of the early pre- judice which prevailed, I ate ripe fruits, especially pears, very freely, through the whole sickly season, and without apparent injury. I have since done the same, and have known it done by others; always without apparent injury, and usually with obvious benefit. I am aware that a few instances of this kind are not decisive of the question ; but they have some weight on my own mind, and serve to confirm opinions otherwise derived. I believe that the high blackberry, used in moderation, for 238 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. an occasional breakfast, might prevent dysentery but would never produce it. Blackberries are often made into pies, puddings, he Blackberry jelly is also very common in fash- ionable life ; and we sometimes hear of blackberry powder. All these, however, as my readers will of course expect me to say, are objectionable. Our blackberry pie is least injurious. Baked with a coarse crust, of unbolted and unleavened wheat meal, the berries retain much of their native excel- lence. They are not, however, so rich, or delicious, or agreeable to a pure appetite, as when just plucked from the vines and eaten in their native freshness; nor ^re they as wholesome. CHAPTER XXIX. THE WHORTLEBERRY. An error. The whortleberry with milk. Not improved by cookery. Varieties of this fruit. The author of the work entitled " Sure Methods of Improving Health and Prolonging Life," says that the whortleberry is very unwholesome. But he gives no reasons why it should be so ; and I have never heard or read anything which had the slightest tendency to lead me to adopt such an opinion. These mere assertions, when confronted by the experience of thousands, weigh but little. If the whortleberry, for wholesomeness, is not even superior to the strawberry, the raspberry, or the blackberry, I am sure it is of the berries, the next in order. It is at once agreeable, delicate, rich, uncloying, nutritious, and easy of digestion. It makes a most satisfying and wholesome break- fast or dinner; and if there be a fruit—I do not believe there is however—which is improved by conjoining it with milk, it is this. I may say, at least, that the two articles unite in the stomach 240 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. more readily than almost any other two articles, so widely different in their constitution, with which I am acquainted. Eaten with bread of various kinds and with rice, if people will not eat them alone, they are comparatively excellent. But with what readiness soever they unite with other articles of food, they are, of all other fruits, most impaired in their excellent qualities, by being made into pies and puddings, or by being cooked in any other manner. It is a matter of utter astonishment to me that any of \ Pork, . . . 124 to 124 Ham, . . . 10 Sausage, . . 124 124 10 Veal, . . . 8 Fish, fresh, . 6 Fish, dried, . 4 Honey, best, . 17 Loaf sugar, . 18 Maple sugar, 124 Brown sugar, 10 Molasses, . . . G Vinegar, . . 3 Milk, . . . 3 EXPENSE OF FOOD COMPARED. 353 Now if we take ten, fifteen, or twenty of the more prominent articles of each of the preceding lists, and compare their cost, we shall find that the average expense of any given quantity of those on the left hand is less than one fourth as much as that of those on the right hand. For example, one pound each of the best wheat flour, rice, beans, Indian corn, Indian hommony, Indian meal, rye flour, potatoes, beets, turnips, cabbage and apples— twelve articles—will not cost over forty cents ; while one pound of each of the following twelve articles—chicken, turkey, butter, eggs, cheese, beef, lamb, pork, ham, sausage, lard and fish—will cost one dollar and seventy-five cents, or considerably more than four times as much. I have placed sugar, molasses, and some other articles in very general use among all classes of the community, and which are comparatively expen- sive, at the foot of the right hand column ; but then it will also be observed, that I have placed arrow-root, tapioca, maccaroni, he, which are also costly, on the other side. If it should be said that families do not use these things, in anything like equal proportion— which is undoubtedly true—still the remark is as applicable to the articles of one column as to those of the other. For example, if it is said that the principles of my estimates involve the idea that a 23 354 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. family uses a pound of butter or turkey, as often as a pound of beef or pork, it might also be re- plied, that on the other hand, one pound of beans and one of rice, at five or six cents a pound, are supposed to be used as often as a pound of pota- toes at one cent, or of Indian meal at three. If it should be objected to this mode of compari- son, that there are no families to be found who confine themselves wholly to the articles in the right hand column of the table, and that in so far as they use an admixture of the others, the com- parative difference in the expense of the two modes of living would be greatly diminished, I grant the premises, but do not admit the conclu- sion. For as the flesh-eating part of the commu- nity do actually eat more or less of vegetable food, so the vegetable eaters do, in some instances, use— and in pretty large quantities, too—many of the more costly articles which I have here assigned to the right hand column ; such as sugar, and honey, ~nd butter, and even lard. Besides, there are other costly items of table expenditure which usually accompany the use of flesh, but which do not belong at all to a vegetable course, and which I believe are usually rejected ; viz. tea and coffee, and the more costly spices, and sauces, and pre- serves. One gentleman with a family of fourteen or fifteen persons, told me his tea and coffee bill— EXPENSE OF FOOD COMPARED. 355 including the milk, sugar, &c, used with them— was not less than one hundred dollars a year. I do not knowr the exact cost of such things to fami- lies ; but I know it must be considerable. I can- not doubt, therefore, that the actual expense of the uncooked materials—for I have as yet gone no far- ther in this chapter than to compare what may be regarded as raw materials—for living on a rational vegetable system, is diminished, or might be dimin- ished, at the rate which appears on the face of the table ; that is, three fourths. A single example may make this perfectly plain. Five hundred and fifty pounds of Indian meal will make seven hundred and thirty of Indian cake, of medium dryness. This, at two pounds a day, which is quite as much nutriment as the most healthy, hard laboring person ought to receive, would last him about a year; and two thousand two hundred pounds of the same meal would be sufficient for an ordinary family of five persons—or even six—including a husband, a wife, and sev- eral children. But the expense—for the material merely—would be for the individual only sixteen dollars and fifty cents, and for the family, only sixty-six dollars a year. But how far wrould sixt°^n dollars and fifty cents, laid out, say in beef—by no means the most expensive article of family use—go towards sus- 356 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. taining a person a year ? Why, it would not buy, at the utmost, but about one hundred and twenty pounds of beef. This would give less than one third of a pound a day, for the year; or, as Indian cake is fully twice as nutritious as the average of beef, only one twelfth the nutriment which the vegetable eater would obtain from his five hundred and fifty pounds of meal. Wheat flour, it is true, and perhaps rice, and one or two other articles, cost a little more than Indian meal in proportion to the amount of nutri- ment they afford, but then, on the other hand, potatoes, apples, he, cost somewhat less ; so that I think Indian meal and beef may fairly be set off, the one against the other. And as to the cookery, it will not probably be doubted by any that the preparation of flesh and fish, together with that of pastry, which in its nu- merous forms is usually an accompaniment, is much the most expensive. It would be so, independent of the seasonings, and sauces, and gravies, which are reckoned indispensable. And if it should be said, that people eat more—that is, a greater amount of nutriment—who confine themselves to vegetable food, than they do who use a portion of flesh meat, the statement, though true, might be met by another, which is, that vegetable food seems to be, for the most part, not only improved but in- EXPENSE OF FOOD -COMPARED. 357 creased in quantity by cookery, whereas animal food of almost every description sustains a slight loss by the cooking processes. Thus, as in the cases above, one pound of Indian meal will make a pound and a third of good bread or cake ; and two hundred pounds of wheat meal, or flour, will make, as I have said elsewhere, about two hundred and seventy-five pounds of good bread. Nor does the difference consist wholly in the addition of water to the meal, for two hundred and seventy- five pounds of bread are believed to contain much more nutriment than two hundred pounds of flour, were the latter equally palatable and digestible; and the same thing is probably true, at least in a measure, of all other bread stuffs—and even of peas, beans, &c. The following table exhibits the increase, in weight, of several common articles during the pro- cess of cookery ; though it does not, of course, de- termine the increase of nutriment: 100 lbs. wheat flour make about 135 lbs. of bread. 100 " Indian meal " " 125 to 144 " " 100 " hommony " " 333 to 400 " 100 " rice " " 250 to 300 " 100 " peas " " 175 to 200 " 100 " beans " " 175 to 200 « I have adverted to the difference in the ex- pense of cooking the two great classes of articles 358 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. which are presented in our first table ; but the nature of the subject requires a few more particu- lar remarks. If the vegetable-eater chooses to do it, he may spend as much time in cooking his favorite articles as the flesh-eater; but not without causing a proportionate deterioration in the quality, if not loss of quantity. An equal degree of per- fection in the preparation of the two classes of nutrient substances demands far more labor where a mixed diet is used, than when we confine our- selves, exclusively, either to animal or vegetable food. A diet exclusively animal would be pre- pared with comparative ease ; but one exclusively vegetable, much more easily and cheaply still. There is, however, another important view of the case, in making a comparison. Vegetable food, in nearly all its simpler forms, can be pre- served much longer in perfection after it is cooked, than animal food. This susceptibility of long preservation is generally in proportion to its sim- plicity. Thus, boiled corn, or rice, or baked un- leavened cakes, (whether of one kind of material or another,) may be preserved, with a little care, for a long time. But when to the corn you add salt or butter, to the rice, salt, or any other condi- ment, and to the bread, salt, milk and yeast, it is rendered somewhat more liable to decay ; though even in these latter conditions, food may be pre- EXPENSE OF FOOD COMPARED. 359 served for a long time. Peas, beans, potatoes, beets, turnips, he, plainly cooked, may even be preserved for some time, in the hottest weather; though in cool weather much longer, without dete- rioration. But it is not so, in general, with animal food or mixed dishes. With most of these there is a much more rapid tendency to decay ; and many of them cannot be preserved, in perfection, at all.—I might have said, for it is true, that some vegetable substances actually improve, both in taste and quality, by keeping; for example, bread, rice, hommony, he They not only, for some time, become more and more savory to the correct ap- petite, but by becoming more and more solid, they require a greater amount and degree of mastication. Do you ask what advantages are gained to the vegetable-eater by a knowledge of the last mentioned fact ? But is it possible they can be mistaken ? Is it of no consequence, in point of economy, either of fuel or time, that we can bake bread enough at once to last ten, twelve or fifteen days ; that we can prepare unleavened cakes, rice, hommony or mush enough, at once, to last eight or ten days, and peas, beans, potatoes and other vegetables enough to last three, four or seven days ? According to the modern fashion of using mixed dishes, requiring eight, ten, twelve or twenty of them at the same meal, and requiring them hot, 360 THE YOUNG HOUSE-KEEPER. and this repeated three times a day, it comes to pass, that not only one or two articles, but nearly every article on the table, except perhaps bread, must be cooked for each particular meal. Even bread which is not hot from the oven, unless heated anew by toasting, will go down most throats with very great difficulty. This constantly repeated process of boiling, broiling, steaming, steeping, soaking, warming, roasting and toasting, repeated at almost every meal—to say nothing of preparing tea, coffee, chocolate5 shells, gravies, sauces, and half a dozen other abominations which need not be named—consumes an amount of valuable time, to say nothing of the loss to the vital powers, both of the cook and those who partake, from the unnecessary external and internal heat, which is immense—but which a rational vegetable system would almost entirely prevent or save. But 1 have dwelt on this, at sufficient length, in other places. I have one more table to construct before I leave the economical part of my subject. Let us suppose the five hundred and fifty pounds of Indian meal, to an individual, for one year, to be the standard—I mean for an adult—and two thousand two hundred pounds to be that of a family. I believe this to be a most liberal allowance, but I intend it shall be so. The expense of this, at two EXPENSE OF FOOD COMPARED. 361 and a half cents a pound, which is as high as it ought to be computed, would be, for a family of five persons, only fifty-five dollars. But as corn can generally, in ordinary times, be purchased for a dollar a bushel, by those who are disposed to lay in a stock for their families, the expense might be reduced in that way, to little more than forty-five dollars. However, to be liberal, I am willing to set the actual expense to such a family, for this material, at fifty-two dollars a year—or one dollar a week for the whole family. No family of five persons can require more. This, let it not be forgotten, is about two pounds of good, substantial Indian cake or bread to the adult individual, daily. Let us now see how many ounces of some other materials the same expenditure of a dollar a week would give to an adult individual daily, estimating his wants at one fourth of the family. VEGETABLE FOOD. ANIMAL FOOD. OZ. oz. Of peas, beans, buckwheat Chicken and turkey, say 2| flour, &c, about ... 9^ Eggs,......3| Rice and wheat hommony, 10J Beef, ......41 Wheat meal, flour, &c, 11£ Lamb,pork,ham,sausage,4| Sweet potatoes, rye meal, Fish,.......91 Indian meal, &c, . . 19 Milk,......18 Common potatoes, . . 54| Beets, turnips, &c, . . 38 Apples, squashes,